Eric Benet "Spend My Life With You" Remix featuring Terry Dexter
The remix to Eric Benet's biggest commercial single finds him pairing up with Terry Dexter. It doesn't quite live up to the original, but it has a bit of a different feel to it. The version with Tamia is one of my favorite songs of all time and one I could see including in my wedding one day!
Eric Benet "Love Don't Love Me" Remix featuring The Clipse
Another rare but very good Neptunes production from when they were in their prime. This is the remix to Eric's 2001 single which appeared on the soundtrack to the movie "The Brothers." As you can hear, Eric really breaks out his falsetto on this one. The Clipse also hop on the remix as they did many other Neptunes remixes since they were signed to their label Star Trak.
Since I've continued to get interested on rare Jon B., I figured I might as well steadily dig into the vault. "Watchin Her" is another unreleased track that I believe came out around the time of his 2008 album "Helpless Romantic." I'm not sure of any other details about the track, but feel free to chime in if you do.
I normally don't post songs by pop singers on here (although Leona is borderline r&b), but I just wanted to give an example of when a leaked Ne-Yo song that we perceive to be a demo actually finds a home. The Ne-Yo song leaked last year and it turns out it was intended for Leona's sophomore album "Echo" but it didn't make the cut. You can also hear Ne-Yo singing background vocals of her version of the song. Which do you like better?
Here is the answer to the question I asked earlier this week about who Static wrote the song for. This was originally supposed to be the lead single off of Brandy's 2004 "Afrodisiac" album, and would have really given her music for of an edge than she had ever experimented with. Eventually, the majority of that album would be produced by Timbaland and Kanye West and it came out really well; I thought Brandy showed growth. I'm not sure how this song would have done commercially, but it's cool.
I really am a fan of Marques Houston, but he seriously needs to avoid doing songs like this. Even though he announces at the start of the song "This is for the clubs!" I'm still not buying into this song. In fact, I don't think I could even tolerate this in the clubs!! Note to Marques: you have a really good voice, leave the autotune alone!
You won't often find me featuring a song where Pharrell is making his attempt at singing, but in my opinion "Shooting Stars" is one of the rare exceptions where it actually works. You see, he doesn't try to do too much here, which allows his voice to nicely complete Kelis'. This song is from her 2001 "Wanderland" album which found her experimenting with new sounds and was even riskier than her debut album. As a result, her label didn't allow her to release the album in the U.S. and to date you can only find it as an import from overseas. I have to disagree with the label on this one. Although it might not be her best work, I applaud her for being unique and some of the songs on the album I can really vibe to.
I always find it interesting when a single pops up on the internet, I like the song, it never releases officially, and then I see it appear up on another artists album. No, I'm not talking about a demo track written for another artist, I'm talking about a song like this. Tiffany Villarreal's version of this song originally surfaced a few years ago and was seemingly supposed to appear on her sophomore album which never released. About a year later in 2008, Mya released her "Sugar and Spice" album that contained her version of the son. Basically, since Tiffany never released her album, and "Sugar and Spice" was an overseas only release, there is a good chance you never had a chance to hear either of these versions!
Veronica "Someone to Hold" featuring Big Pun & Cuban Link
Veronica is a singer who came up in the 90's and made a name for herself with dance music that was big on the club scene before changing over to hip hop and r&b. "Someone to Hold" was the second single from her 1997 album "Rise" and is one of the lesser known guest appearances Big Pun made over the years. There is also a dance remix of this song produced by Johnny Vicious which is considered a club anthem.
Video for the first single from her upcoming album "Still Standing." Chad Johnson (OchoCinco) is also featured in the video. The album will be in stores March 23rd.
After a slight delay, we finally have Avery's "Diary of a Takeoff" Mixtape which is fully produced by The Heatmakerz. Don't you just love it when artists give us music for free? My favorite song from the mixtape is by far "It's Not Over." Click Here to Listen to It.
I'm going to go ahead and assume this song wasn't meant to be released! I'm also going to assume the group was really just messing around when they decided to make this song. Right? "I'm a Rockstar b*tches!" Wow, no words.
Miss Jones "2 Way Street (No. 1 Lady)" featuring Big Pun
If you are in the New York City area and listen to the radio, you probably know Miss Jones from her time as a radio personality on the Hot97 morning show. Prior to this, she was actually a singer and released her one and only album "The Other Woman" in 1998. Besides this, she has had guest appearances over the years with many big names including AZ ("Sugar Hill"), Big Pun ("Punish Me"), Jaheim ("Waitin' On You"), Big L ("Holdin' It Down"), Charli Baltimore ("Have It All"), and Pete Rock ("Soul Survivor"). She was fired from Hot97 in 2008, and her personal website is not working, so I'm not exactly sure what she is up to these days.
When I first picked up the Michael Jackson "Thriller: 25th Anniversary Edition" a few years ago, it included a song called "For All Time" that was recorded during the "Thriller" sessions but remained unreleased. After a few listens, I fell in love with the song and wondered why that was never included on any of Michael's prior albums. Now we have this duet that Latif did with Michael of this song and it sounds great. This was included on his recently released mixtape "Breath of Fresh Air" that is free for download.
Miss Independent Part II? Well, not exactly, but Ne-Yo once against toasts to the woman who can "do for herself" on this new song. Like the rest of the material that's leaked from him over the past year or so, it's pretty safe to assume this is a demo track for another singer. In fact, he recently confirmed on twitter he is going to start working on his next album as soon as he gets off tour next month and also mentioned "he has alot to say." Check out for that album coming later this year.
Songs like this are the reason why I used to be such a big fan of the Neptunes. Most of the time a Neptunes beat can be so over the top that it has the tendency to overshadow the singer. Here however, they produced a very simple yet fitting beat that compliments a song that was already a hit to begin with. In addition, it proved their versatility showing that they could work with acts outside of traditional hip hop and r&b. This version of the song was included on the cd single to "By Your Side" in 2000. The original is from the album "Lovers Rock" which would end up going three times platinum in the U.S.
Here's some studio footage of Avery Storm and Rsonist of The Heatmakerz as they prview some of the tracks off their upcoming street album "Diary of a Takeoff." The mixtape will be available 2/23/10.
I'm not sure if any of you remember Megan Rochell, but she was a young, talented singer that was signed to Def Jam back in 2005. Unfortunately, she was dropped from the label and her album was never released. Luckily for us listeners though, a lot of her material has leaked onto the internet. It really is a shame that she was dropped, because she had a lot of great records on her album.
I'm going to feature "Floating", which was actually a single (peaked at #55 on the R&B charts). Big R&B heads will recognize the sample (Teena Marie - Now That I Have You) and the producer Needlz did a great job of flipping the sample. Oh and to top it off, Ne-Yo wrote the song. This song is a winner and if you have the opportunity, definitely check out Megan Rochell because she is a talent.
Forever Music INC presents to you Latif: “Breath Of Fresh Air” mixtape. The mixtape is hosted by “Mr. Money Machine” himself Don Cannon and “A&R to the Streetz” Ace McClowd. Produced by Carvin & Ivan with additional production from Johnnie “Smurf” Smith, James Poyser and James Rose. Latif is a singer/songwriter from Philadelphia that is one of the new young voices of R&B. Check out Latif’s exclusive collaboration with Michael Jackson on “For All Time” and his rendition of “Love TKO”, a tribute to his mentor Teddy Pendergrass.
Lina "It's Alright" featuring Boobonic (from Philly's Most Wanted)
"It's Alright" was a song released on Lina's debut album "Stranger on Earth" back in 2001. Although the album didn't do well commercially, it was critically acclaimed for mixing elements of r&b, soul, jazz and swing. The combination provides a fun, upbeat style of music that was unique in its time. I'm not sure why the album didn't fare better, but sometimes when an artist comes with so many styles that it transcends many genres, no matter how great it may sound, the masses may not be ready for it. After her debut, Lina released two more albums and is still active in making music to this day.
With so many good songs from her newly released "Royal Patience...A Love Journey" mixtape, it was really hard for me to select just one to post. However, "Winter 96" really stood out to me. It has a 90's soul vibe to it and I was really feeling the use of instruments, especially the trumpet, in the background. If you haven't had a chance to download this free mixtape, please go do that, there is so much good music on here. Click Here to Go To Download Page
